Synergy
by J.Wolfe
Summary: Zzyzx is gone, Madacorp is under new management, and Latnok is still held at bay by Adam. Kyle's life is getting simpler. That is, until he gets a signal from an unknown source. Tagged to S2 E23 "I've Had the Time of My Life"  Warning: Slash
1. Chapter 1

**Basic Story Information:**

** Title:** Synergy

** Genre:** Sci-Fi, Romance, Friendship, Humor, Adventure

** Pairings:** Kyle/OMC (Main pairing), Lori/Declan, Josh/Andy, Kyle/Amanda (fractured)

** Setting:** Tagged to S2 E23 "I've Had the Time of My Life" just as Kyle and Amanda are floating and Jessi is preparing to leave with Sarah.

** Summary:** Zzyzx is gone, Madacorp is under new management, and Latnok is still held at bay by Adam. Kyle's life is getting simpler. That is, until he gets a signal from an unknown source.

-oo-o0o-oo-

**Chapter 1:** The Signal

Everyone was getting what they wanted. Josh has Andy, Lori has Declan, Jessi has Sarah, and Kyle finally has Amanda.

Spinning slowly above the pool of water on the dance floor, Kyle was perfectly content embracing his long-time crush. He hadn't been the perfect boyfriend, and he knew that; but, Kyle felt that Amanda had forgiven him for all of that.

A wave of something hit Kyle's mind like a rocket blast. Suddenly he and Amanda dropped to the floor. It was only about a six inch fall, but when they landed, Kyle lost his balance and Amanda had to stumble backwards to keep hers.

"What was that?" she asked as she recovered.

"I… I don't-" Kyle began but was cut off by another wave of mental energy.

o0o

Kyle's eyes slowly fluttered open. He found himself in his tub in his bedroom, Nicole sitting beside him and watching intently. He groaned, his head still pounding from whatever had struck him earlier. "What happened?" he asked innocently.

"I don't know. Amanda called from the hotel and said you collapsed. We came and got you as quickly as we could. Do you think it could be a seizure like the one you had when you were trying to use your powers without knowing it?"

"No. It wasn't like that. It was almost like… like someone was calling out to me. The first time I was around Jessi we had a sort of telepathic connection that signaled our presence. It was like that, except a thousand times stronger." Kyle was even puzzling himself. He couldn't think of any sort of machine that could do this, or even how a machine like that would work. He and Jessi are the most advanced humans on the planet, so who else could've done this?

A loud and sudden noise came from the front of the house and Kyle jumped out of the tub to see what it was. Down the hall, he could see Sarah holding an unconscious Jessi. "Oh my God," Nicole called from behind him. "Sarah, what happened?"

Jessi stirred awake in her mother's arms and was put down on her feet. "Kyle," she murmured, "Did you feel it, too?"

"I think so." Everyone just stood there for a moment, everyone silently asking the question, _What does it mean?_ But, no one had an answer, so no one said anything.

Steven tromped down the stairs and into the silent circle of bodies. "What are you all doing?"

Kyle looks up to answer him but Jessi beats him to the punch. "Kyle and I felt something and we're trying to figure out what it was."

Steven looks a little perplexed at first, but then, being the communicative genius he is, he decides to make the scenario into a computer metaphor. "So you both felt a signal? Could it have been something like a Wi-Fi field that you both came into contact with?"

"Yes," Kyle responded, "But it was more like there was a remote sending my body a signal to move. The thing is there's nothing that I can even imagine that's strong enough to send a signal like that without having direct contact with the subject."

"Okay…" Steven pauses a moment to ponder the information. "So we're looking for something that's even beyond what **you** can fathom. Where do you find something like that?"

Kyle, Jessi, Steven, and Nicole all look up at the same time and proclaim "Zzyzx" in unison.

"Let's go," Kyle says, but Jessi doesn't move and everyone else looks concerned. "What's the matter? Shouldn't we go check out whatever this is?"

Jessi huffs and then explains herself. "It's not that I don't want to see what this is. It's just… I was just about to leave this place. Start a new life. And now… I don't want to get sucked back in." She looks over to Sarah as she finishes and Kyle understands her concerns. If she leaves with him now, she may never be able to leave with Sarah.

Understanding this, Kyle turns his questioning gaze to Steven and Nicole. "Kyle," Nicole pipes up, "I just don't think it's a good idea for you to go back there. After everything we've found out about them… I just don't think it's safe there."

Kyle looked to the window and saw that it was rather dark out. He understood their reservations, but when he got that signal it was like someone was calling to him. At first glance it was a painful screaming in his mind, but just under the surface seemed to be some SOS. So, Kyle decided that, to quench his urges and keep everyone else from feeling too much anxiety, he would go to the Zzyzx compound in secret.

"Okay. I'll leave it alone. My head still hurts a little, so I think I'll go to bed." Jessi was anxious to pull Sarah out of the house so they could leave. Nicole and Steven went back to whatever movie they had been watching and Kyle went to his room. He closed the door and waited a few minutes to make sure no one was going to come and check on him. Then he slipped out the window and grabbed his bike.

Kyle was one of the most advanced people in the world, but he had somehow never found the time to get a driver's license or a car. The Zzyzx compound was quite a ways away, so Kyle decided that he would have to take a vehicle. He couldn't take the Tragers' car or Amanda's. They would notice and suspect his absence. Declan would be out with Lori and Josh had his car at the after-Prom party. He couldn't use any of those, but he could easily use Foss's truck. Foss had been gone for a little while now, but he didn't take his truck with him when he left. It was still at the warehouse and that was only about a five minute bike ride away.

Opening the truck door, Kyle found a note attached to the key. _I thought you might be needing this eventually. I'm not that attached, but try to bring it back in one piece._ Foss had always been thoughtful.

o0o

It was not all that long of a drive to the compound site, but as he got closer and closer, Kyle felt a small ringing in his ears steadily growing.

He pulled up to the tunnel that he and the other teens had explored earlier in the year. There didn't seem to be anything there, but he felt compelled to check it out. He got out of the truck and focused his mental facets on his vision. The forest seemed to jump out at him with colors, and then he noticed an area of high thermal activity. At first he thought it was just a deer or other animal bedded down for the night, but he stepped closer and made out the shape of a human body.

He reconciled his senses and knelt down. "Hello?" he whispered to the figure. "Are you okay?" He placed a hand on the figure's arm. He felt some kind of slick substance on the person and just before he went to pull his hand away, the figure became alert.

Kyle pulled back, but a hand covered his and a rush of energy flooded him. The energy was dark at first: a mental shroud of thick black smoke that gave him an overriding sense of fear. But then Kyle saw a reflected image of himself from what must have been the figure's point of view. The energy changed. It was warm, like a soft ray of sunlight filtered through a thin white sheet. Kyle began to realize that the images and sensations were a projection from the figure. But then the emotions became much stronger, until the feeling of euphoria removed all possibility of Kyle's free thought. His body gave way to gravity and he collapsed out of the person's grip.

As he hit the ground, the emotions and images wore off and he snapped back to reality. His eyelids flicked open and he could see the figure's face in full detail now. It was concerned at first, but it quickly dropped that expression for a more pleasantly contented one. Kyle rose to his feet and the figure mimicked him. Upon its standing, Kyle could tell that the figure was a boy, or rather, a man.

He appeared to be no older than 17. Kyle took in the young man's appearance. His entire body was covered in a viscous fluid and it only took a moment for Kyle to realize what he was. The young man cocked his head to the side and cued his confusion with his eyes. They glowed in the darkness and Kyle felt that he could almost feel the emotions flowing out of them.

"Do you speak at all?" Kyle figured he may as well ask. The question was followed with more head-cocked gazes that made him want to melt into that euphoria again. Kyle went around to the back of the truck and pulled out a big blanket. He held it out to the young man, but nothing came of it so he wrapped the blanket around the naked figure. Then he opened the truck door and waved his arm to signal the young man to enter. Again, he received only confused looks. He reached out and grabbed the young man's hand, trying to convey his desire for the two of them to get in the truck. He felt the connection being made and suddenly he was conversing without words. The young man threw out a sensation of confusion and Kyle returned an imagined image of the pair getting in the truck along with a feeling of compulsion. They pulled their hands away and the connection was weakened, but not lost.

Once in the vehicle, Kyle felt the gaze of the new young man falling upon his face. Kyle felt the question emanating from those eyes. _Where are we going?_ It wasn't really said in words, more in the inflection of emotions. Kyle reached a hand over and regained the full connection. He poured out all of the positive emotions he could muster along with images of the Trager household. Over the top of these emotions, he said, felt, and thought the word: "**Home**".


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:** A New Home

As they pull up in front of the Trager household in the truck, Kyle and the new young man are holding hands. For the vast majority of the ride home, the half naked teen would highlight things in Kyle's field of vision and Kyle would supply the word and history of those objects.

Kyle put the thought of going into the house in the new one's mind and then retracted his hand to get out of the truck. It should've felt normal to remove the connection, but after having been linked with the new mind for almost the entire ride home, Kyle felt an absence within himself. He ran around to the other side of the truck to open the door, and, almost without thought, grabbed his hand again.

Kyle did his best to push a sense of calmness through the connection; but, his anxiousness at bringing this new person into the Trager household was permeating his thoughts. The new man sensed this anxiety and pushed a stronger sense of calm into Kyle removing all of the uneasy feelings and giving Kyle the ability to reason out the situation before him. He listened intently to the internal sounds of the house and found that the movie was still playing. Upon further examination, he heard the Trager parents breathing slowly, asleep on the couch.

Kyle led the conjoined pair around the house and into his bedroom through the window. He transferred the idea of silence to his compatriot and then grabbed a towel. He broke their connection only as long as it took to wipe the majority of the slime off of the young man. Pulling a t-shirt and some pajama bottoms out of his armoire, Kyle gestured for the young man to get dressed. Once holding the clothes, the new guy held out his hand for Kyle's. Kyle appeased him.

An image of the clothing flashed through the connection with a feeling of confusion. Kyle understood the question being asked: _Why do I need these?_

In response, he imagined a group of people in the wilderness. A man scraped his knee. A woman was very cold. A child is very dirty. Then they are all wearing clothes. Everyone is happy. The man doesn't get hurt, the woman is warmer, the child is clean.

The young man counters with the contrasting ideas of outdoors and the bedroom, making the argument that they are not necessary here.

Though he feels a slight urge to drop the argument there and strip himself as well, Kyle refutes with an image of a room full of naked people in a house. Over the top of this image, he conveys a sense of uneasiness. The people then are clothed and become more comfortable with one another.

He seems to understand that sentiment and breaks contact to dress himself. Kyle spreads a blanket and throws a pillow on the floor. When he is finished dressing, the young man tilts his head for further direction. Kyle motions to the tub and tries to push a thought of sleeping in it through without contact. The new guy seems to vaguely understand, but he doesn't really move, so Kyle grabs his hand and shows an image of himself sleeping in the tub with the sense of fatigue.

They both stand there for a moment but neither move. The young man seems not to have understood the sensation or the directions whatsoever and suddenly Kyle remembers that he did not understand or desire sleep after he had first been found. Kyle walks over and locks the door so none of the Tragers will come in and misinterpret the situation in the morning.

Kyle sits in the tub and settles in, figuring the new young man will likely be up all night anyway so he may as well sleep in his own tub. Unexpectedly, the young man sits at the other end of the tub and holds out his upturned hand. Kyle imagines himself asleep in the tub and tries hard to push a sense of fatigue into the new resident of his tub, hoping it will make some sort of impact.

The plan seems to be working. The young man's eyelids begin to fall and his muscles relax. Kyle gives the notion of peaceful exhaustion one more major push through the connection and his tub-mate falls forward onto him, fast asleep. At first Kyle contemplates moving the extra weight off of himself, thinking it may be uncomfortable through the night. But, he ultimately feels rather comfortable and nods off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:** What's in a Name?

_Knock-Knock. _"Kyle?" _Knock-Knock._ "Kyle, are you in there? I made breakfast." Nicole was standing outside Kyle's bedroom door. It wasn't common for Kyle to be the last one up in the morning, and after the events of the night prior, she was mildly worried.

Kyle's eyes snapped open as he heard the knocking and felt the weight of the new young man on top of him. Gently pushing the resting body aside and lowering it to the bottom of the tub, Kyle went and answered the door.

He swung it open widely at first, but quickly stepped out and pulled the door shut. "Good morning… Um… I'm going to grab my phone and I'll meet you in the kitchen. Is everyone up?"

"Yes… Are you okay? You seem a little… edgy."

"Huh? Yeah. I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute." Nicole turned and walked to the kitchen and Kyle reentered his room.

Making the connection, Kyle pulled the new young man from his telepathically induced slumber. _Come with me_, he pushed and imagined the action. The young man rose and stepped out of the tub, following Kyle to the kitchen where all of the Tragers were absorbed in their own little discussion about the relative humor of the Sunday morning cartoons.

Josh is the first to look up and see Kyle's plus one to breakfast. "Whoa. Who's the new guy?"

Everyone else looks up from the table with confused expressions. "Kyle," Steven asks, "who's this?"

"Well… you see… he doesn't really have a name. You know the whole signal thing that Jessi and I were receiving last night?" Everyone nods. "It was him." No one moves as the Tragers try to process what's going on.

"So…" Lori begins to speak now. "What you're saying is… he's like you?"

"Yes."

Nicole seems to still be skeptical. "Kyle. Is that even possible? I thought Zzyzx was destroyed. And Madacorp isn't doing those sorts of experiments anymore."

"That's what I thought, too. But," Kyle lifts the pair's conjoined hands and explains, "we can communicate through tactile telepathy. That's something I've only been able to do with Jessi. And even when I do it with her, it's nowhere near the level at which it operates between us."

Everyone has their heads tilted slightly, a gesture that the new young man recognizes easily. He breaks contact with Kyle and reaches his hand out to Nicole.

"Take it," Kyle says. Though there will likely be little communication, Kyle knows that any sort of emotional transference will prove his point to the Tragers. Nicole grasps the young man's hand and is suddenly bombarded with images of his and Kyle's first interactions in the woods. He also pushes a sense of happiness in a reflected image of Nicole, signaling his pleasure to meet her.

Nicole breathes in deeply and releases the young man's hand. "Well, that certainly beyond the normal human capabilities."

Josh is almost bouncing with excitement. "Oh, cool! A new Kyle in the house? This is going to be awesome! I call next!" Josh stands up and throws his hand forward to the new guy.

He glances towards Kyle to make sure it is okay to take Josh's hand. Kyle remembers his ability to make the other man fall asleep in the tub and transmits the thought through their mental Wi-Fi. He grabs Josh's hand and pushes the sensation of weariness. Josh calms down almost immediately and then slowly returns to his seat and falls asleep. Kyle laughs and the new young man does the same. The other three Tragers sit confused until Kyle explains the emotional control of the mental communication.

"It's essentially one computer giving another computer a control command. It's just that he's operating at the level of a super-computer and Josh is more like an iPod."

Everyone seems to understand and laughs as Josh groggily lifts his head back up off of the table. "Hey," Lori pronounces. "What's his name?"

Everyone exchanges glances, no one really wanting to make that decision and Josh not awake enough to make a stupid suggestion. Then Kyle piped up, "What about, 'Tacitus.' It means 'silent' in Latin and he doesn't speak."

"Kyle," Lori said derisively, "you can't be serious. 'Tacitus'? I'm pretty sure no one's been named that since the Roman Empire."

Kyle opens his mouth to counter, but he stops, knowing she was exaggerating. "Well… How about… Nick." The young man smiles and the Tragers are appeased with the normality of the name.

"Well, Nick," Steven turns to him. "Would you like some breakfast?"

Nick stares blankly at Steven's outstretched hand gesturing toward the food. He can communicate by touching normal people, but he can't read their minds from a distance. Kyle pulls out a chair and sends the appropriate message.

"I don't think he can quite understand you guys yet. I've been there before, so I'm sure he'll learn English pretty quickly. But until then, I'll just translate the words into thoughts for him."

The family eats their breakfast relatively quietly at the table. Although it is certainly strange to have a new, mute superhuman among them, no one really acknowledges it. Of course, Josh is still a little out of it…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:** Kissing

It'd been about a week since Nick was introduced to the Trager household, and he'd been assimilating extremely well. Except for the part about speaking.

Nick knew English; in fact, he knew French, Spanish, Hungarian, Chinese, Arabic, Latin, and countless other languages as well. However, near instant translation of thoughts to and from Kyle kept him from seeing the point in using other methods of communication.

**Good Morning**, Kyle thought to Nick as he entered the bedroom. Though there were accommodations in the house that would allow the two their separate sleeping quarters, the telepathic connection seemed to draw them together. At one point Nicole tried to get the two to separate, but they were too busy engaging in data transfer regarding worldly information to pay her any attention.

**Salve**. Nick smiled and Kyle's vision was shrouded with a warm light.

**You know, Nick, you're almost getting a little too good at telepathy**. Kyle sat on the edge of the tub where his counterpart lay.

**Is there such a thing as being 'too good'?** A pause allowed Nick to weave through the thoughts at the base of Kyle's consciousness. A few partial images filtered in and out of the telepathic network. Nick plucked up a single image from the group and pulled it to the forefront of the communication. **What's this?**

The image of the pair intertwined in the tub flashed into Kyle's mind. **Nothing. Just a wondering thought**. Nick's head tilted to the side and he gave a disappointed look. Kyle should've known better than to try to lie through the telepathic com-link. **It's not appropriate. I shouldn't be thinking those things**.

Nick reached up to place his hand on Kyle's. **It's okay. I think them, too**. Images from Nick's mind filled Kyle's head. They were only kissing, but the emotion accompanying the images was overwhelming. Kyle fell softly into the tub and fulfilled Nick's thoughts. The kisses were soft and pleasant; the stuff of young girls' Prince Charming fantasies. After a few minutes, Kyle finally loosed himself from the telepathic enthrallment.

"Kyle!" Nicole's voice rang from the kitchen. She entered the bedroom with her hair in a mess. "Kyle, what just happened?" She didn't even seem fazed by the fact that Kyle was laying atop the new addition to their family.

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone was just sitting in the kitchen and then Stephen and I were suddenly kissing and apparently Josh and Lori kissed as well." Nick chuckled quietly and Kyle adorned a shocked and embarrassed expression.

"Mooooooom!" Lori yelled as she marched to Kyle's room. "What did he do?" She wiped her lips and spat air trying to clean her mouth. "This is so wrong. Kyle, I swear to God, I will destroy you!"

Nick shifted Kyle's weight and sat up. With a look he calmed Lori and shut her mouth. Looking to Kyle, he spoke his first words aloud. "I was… 'too good'."

o0o

**Why is it wrong that Lori and Josh kissed?**

**They're brother and sister.**

**So it's wrong?**

**Yes.**

**But why?**

**Because brothers and sisters should not be together. It is biologically maladaptive to have relatives within a separation of a factor of seven to reproduce and this behavior is therefore taboo in all known cultures.**

**But kissing has no bearing on reproduction. We kissed and we cannot reproduce.**

**No… but it isn't reproduction that Lori finds uncomfortable with the situation.**

**Then what is it?**

**It's the… implications that come with kissing.**

**What implications?**

**The implications of a desire to hold an intimate, passionate relationship.**

**But you wanted to kiss me, and I wanted to kiss you.**

**Yes.**

**But we cannot hold such a relationship. We are both gender designated XY. We cannot reproduce, so we cannot.**

**Reproduction is not the only purpose for such a relationship.**

**What else is there?**

Kyle paused, reflecting the thoughts and feelings that Nick had presented earlier while leaving his own thoughts and feelings up for his counterpart's interpretation.

**There is Love.**


End file.
